Former UFC middleweight champion and MMA legend Anderson Silva will face Jake Paul at the end of October. While the combat sports fandom is well weighed in on who’s the clear favorite, upsets can happen anytime and to anyone, and Silva speaks his mind on what would be his modus operandi if Paul pulls off a shocker.
A fight is a fight, it’s a mission… And sometimes, you lose the mission: Anderson Silva
In combat sports, everyone gets a chance to strike and upsets aren’t that uncommon. Even a relatively inexperienced fighter like “The Problem Child” also possesses that ability, and can do the same on October 29th when he takes on ‘The Spider’ at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
With the looming possibility of losing to the former YouTuber turned professional boxer, who has a record of 5-0, Silva explained to Nelk Boys on the Full Send podcast, how he handles his mindset, what would happen if he loses, and his future in combat sports.
“A fight is a fight, it’s a mission where you have the soldiers and you train with those soldiers for the mission. And sometimes, you lose the mission. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you win,” said Silva, “But I am training to win. I don’t train to lose. And the fight happens, I win, OK, I win. do I lose? Life goes on and we continue. But I repeat, I’m not going in there to lose.”
The 47-year-old Brazilian, who resumed his professional boxing career in 2021, has gone out of his way to show respect for the sport more than anything else.
“I don’t know if I’m going to knock out Jake Paul or not,” he went on. “But I promise to go show my respect for the boxing world. That’s my goal. I train with a guy who was in the Olympics who is a GOAT at boxing. That’s why I train with professional boxers. That’s why I do the best I can every day. That’s what I need to do, show my respect for boxing. Boxing is very interesting because it’s not to disrespect other sports, but in boxing, a lot of people die to make the sport great. A lot of people lost everything to make the sport great.”
“I can’t come to the sport and not give my best and not show my respect for boxing. It’s not about knocking out Jake Paul or knocking out other opponents. It’s just going in there and showing your respect for boxing, doing it right,” added Silva.
Since parting ways with MMA, Silva has gone on a 2-0 streak (3-1 in professional boxing overall), defeating Julio Cesar Chavez and, more recently, former UFC champion Tito Ortiz. But after the boxing match with Jake Paul, Anderson Silva wants another fight, this time with rules that favor him a little more, he explained.
“I’m going to talk to Jake and tell him to do one more exhibition fight, kickboxing. Something where you can kick me and I can kick you. But I promise you that I will not kick you hard,” Silva concluded.
